Current and projected work at the Princeton Cutaneous communication Laboratory is intended to answer questions about the way the human being processes complex tactile information. The most efficient means of accomplishing the purpose is perceived as a two-pronged attact on the phenomena of tactile perception, viz., careful and systematic studies of the basic psychophysical functions such as thresholds, magnitude growth, difference limens, masking, and localization, and equally systematic analysis of the pattern-discrimination and -recognition capabilities of the observer by means of a computer-controlled multiple vibrator display. Past experience has convinced us that the consistency of direction of the basic research arm is set by the problems in the applied research arm, while many of the pitfalls of the applied area are anticipated by the correct interpretation of results in the basic area. In understanding the problems of tactile contour generation, overall sensory magnitude of tactile patterns, masking of patterns, or movement phenomena, the return to more elementary displays has commonly provided the insights needed to design new strategies that will clarify the details of the pattern recognition process.